Best international and national practices discussed at the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation‘s meeting on management of stockpiles of conventional ammunition

More international co-operation and a transparent and comprehensive approach are required to build on results achieved so far in managing stockpiles of conventional ammunition in a safe and secure way, said speakers at the meeting of the OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation held under Russia’s Chairmanship on 12 July 2017. The event focused on practices of managing stockpiles and destroying surpluses in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Russia and Switzerland.

Opening the session, Colonel Prasenjit Chaudhuri, Head of the Verification Unit and Deputy Head of Euro-Atlantic Security Co-operation Division in Switzerland’s Armed Forces, highlighted global achievements in this area, which include developing international guidelines for ammunition stockpile management and raising broad awareness about its importance.

Chaudhuri also noted challenges, saying that the International Ammunition Technical Guidelines are “mainly drawn from ‘Western’-type regulations” and there is a need to involve “states with different ammunition management specificities” in their further development.  What is also required is a regulatory body so that international norms are introduced at the national level, Chaudhuri said.

Referring to the experience of the OSCE in assisting participating States with the management of stockpiles of conventional ammunition and destruction of its surpluses, he said that it could be used for further development of international guidelines and identifying areas of potential co-operation with international and other regional organizations.

Andrey Gusev, Deputy Director of Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, said that in his country’s federal programmes for the disposal of surplus arms and military and special equipment from 1994 to 2020, there was an emphasis on this process being “secure, environmentally safe, comprehensive and economically effective.” He said that one of the most important goals was “the development of laws and regulations to exclude the possibility of trafficking in military products as well as in byproducts of disposal, above all in explosives and powders.”

Andrei Sarban, Arms Control Project Officer in the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, focused on the OSCE’s support to Bosnia and Herzegovina in the implementation of its national strategy on small arms and light weapons. During the period from 2006 to 2016, more than 16.000 tonnes of ammunition were disposed of. He said that small arms and light weapons as well as conventional ammunition stockpile management is “a long-term effort which needs adequate support from the international community.”